Episode 12: Dreams of the Purple Lotus

Jian Zao (“Sword of Morning”) of the Red Hand Triad was desperate. His brother, Jian Zhang, had fallen under the sway of opium, and had become a frequent customer at the Green Dragon Opium Den.

The den, an uncommon sight in New York City in the 1930s, was opened by Ling Si, a Chinese herbalist, drug trafficker, and sorcerer in October 1937. Within weeks the den had captured dozens with its opium-tainted dreams.

Jian Zao could not rely on his own resources to save his brother, having been warned by his leader to leave the den alone. Desperate to save his brother, he approached Wardens Richard Shen and Andrew Buchanan to see if they could help.

It was the beginning of a very strange trip.

The two men stocked up on antitoxin at the Warden HQ, and then went to the Green Dragon. Unfortunately they never had a chance to use it. They were escorted into a waiting room by a matronly woman named Mrs. Lilly, and then suddenly found that room flooded with a noxious dust. Everything went black, and the next thing they knew they were in Antarctica looking out at the H.M.S Centaurus…